MBE Magazine: The Black Women Wage Gap Is Stealing More Than a Million Dollars from Every Career

August 12. 2026

National Economic Justice Director Seher Khawaja was interviewed extensively for a Minority Business Entrepreneur (MBE) Magazine article about the state of economic injustice for Black women, and the widening wage gap:

She points to something more direct too: a rollback of the very protections that once kept the gap from growing. “We are also seeing a very comprehensive, purposeful assault on Black women’s economic security from the current federal administration,” Khawaja says. “We need to be very honest about what that looks like and what it’s doing.” …

The damage does not stop with one paycheck or one career. “That loss of one million dollars over the course of a lifetime has generational impacts,” Khawaja says. “It keeps going to the next generation, as the children growing up in those families do not have access to the same opportunities, the same wealth, the same savings as their counterparts, and that’s really unjust.” …

Asked what would make the biggest difference over the next decade, Khawaja names three priorities. First, addressing occupational segregation: “We need to be increasing wages in industries where Black women are overrepresented and creating pathways for them to enter higher-paid industries.” Second, investing in a real care economy, “so that all workers, not just workers that work for certain employers, have access to the supports they need to work and raise a child. That cost should not fall predominantly on women; it should not fall predominantly on women of color, which it is right now.” Third, restoring and strengthening enforcement. “We have this very powerful slate of anti-discrimination protections on the books… but in order for them to work, those laws have to be enforced. We need to make sure we’re defending our civil rights infrastructure.” …

That [EEO-1] data collection may sound like a bureaucratic detail, but Khawaja says it is one of the government’s most important tools. “In order for us to address disparities and eliminate them, we need to be able to identify them,” she said. The EEO-1 shows regulators exactly where Black women are concentrated in lower-paying job categories while white men fill the higher-paying ones in the same workplace. “One of the biggest barriers to economic equality for Black women is job segregation into lower-paid, undervalued industries and positions within workplaces,” Khawaja says. “And so being able to identify that job segregation is essential.”

Read the full article.